Photo: Fair use/NADRA
The “Afghan Girl” became a worldwide phenomenon when she appeared on the June 1985 cover of National Geographic. Just 12 years old, she had searing green eyes that pierced the soul, speaking of knowledge and wisdom untold. Photographed by Steve McCurry in the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Pakistan, the girl was stripped of her name and her history, reduced to a symbol of propaganda in the Cold War.
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The “Afghan Girl” became “the most recognized photograph” in the history of the magazine, catapulting McCurry to new heights of fame. Described as “The First World’s Third World Mona Lisa,” the portrait became emblematic of the West’s approach to the refugee crisis, using beauty and suffering to drive newsstand sales.
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The identity of the “Afghan Girl’ was unknown until 2002, when a National Geographic team traveled to Afghanistan to locate her. She was found in a remote region of her native land after leaving a refugee camp in 1992, where she was identified as Sharbat Gula, then age 30. There she saw the photograph for the very first time.
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